BASEBALL: Baseball Analysis; Torre's Inner Circle May Be First Target For Steinbrenner

By JACK CURRY

Published: October 27, 2003

The changes on the Yankees have started. Officially and unofficially, publicly and privately. While the Florida Marlins were giddily celebrating their World Series title at Yankee Stadium on Saturday night, General Manager Brian Cashman spoke softly about how the nature of baseball is to change, to improve, and how the Yankees would start the process immediately.

So George Steinbrenner, the principal owner, issued a statement yesterday about how disappointed he was to lose while promising fans the Yankees would be stronger and better.

''You can count on it,'' he said to end the statement. A person who spoke with Steinbrenner yesterday said that he had several changes planned but would wait before making any of them final.

It's unlikely that the Yankees have already decided which free agents to pursue, so the fact that Steinbrenner has alterations all but wrapped up probably means that Manager Joe Torre's coaching staff will be gutted. The Yankees were two victories short of winning their fifth title in eight seasons, but, in Steinbrenner's win-it-all world, they might as well have been 102 short.

''Your goal is to win a championship,'' shortstop Derek Jeter said moments after the Yankees' 2-0 loss to the Marlins in Game 6 of the World Series. ''That's the only reason I play. When it doesn't happen, I don't know how you describe it.''

To Steinbrenner, it is a failure. To Steinbrenner, the biggest bully in the playground and the owner of a $180 million toy, the prescription for regaining control of the playground is to get an even snazzier toy. The Yankees might become a $200 million toy in a quest for a championship in 2004.

While a lack of clutch hitting destroyed the Yankees in the postseason, one sensible choice they could make is signing the left-handed pitcher Andy Pettitte to a multiyear contract.

With Roger Clemens retiring and with the Yankees realizing that David Wells's sideshow is not worth $6 million next year, they need Pettitte to join Mike Mussina and José Contreras in stabilizing a revamped rotation. Tom Pettitte, Andy's father, said the chances were about even that Andy would return.

''We got an owner who wants to win and who puts a team on the field that gives us a chance to win a World Series,'' Andy Pettitte said.

Even if the pitching coach, Mel Stottlemyre, is not here, he stressed why Pettitte should be. ''You guys know what he's done for this club,'' Stottlemyre said. ''It doesn't take anybody too smart to see that. Without him, there's a huge hole.''

Instead of the knee-jerk move of shifting second baseman Alfonso Soriano to the outfield, the Yankees should appreciate the value in having a second baseman with his power and tutor him to be better defensively. Soriano is athletic enough to be much slicker, and the emphasis on defense could hasten a teamwide push toward being more fundamentally sound -- a trait that helped the inferior Marlins snatch the championship.

While the Yankees traded their top pitching prospect, Brandon Claussen, for third baseman Aaron Boone during the season, they should consider not tendering Boone a contract. Despite hitting a homer that eliminated the Red Sox in the American League Championship Series, Boone hit feebly and was erratic on defense. Yankees officials say that Kaz Matsui, a Japanese shortstop, has the arm strength to handle third, and they could pursue him.

Montreal's Vladimir Guerrero and Atlanta's Gary Sheffield are two marquee free agents who play right field, a position where the Yankees subsisted with Raul Mondesi, Juan Rivera and Karim Garcia. Dwight Gooden, Sheffield's uncle, works for the Yankees, so that could give them an edge in pursuing him.

As dominant as Mariano Rivera can be and as shrewd as it was for Torre to use him for two-inning saves in the postseason, the Yankees shouldn't go through another regular season with more relievers than national anthem singers. Minnesota's LaTroy Hawkins is a free agent and has been a reliable setup man. Jeff Nelson's inconsistency probably cost him the chance to return.

The team's bench coach, Don Zimmer, made one of Steinbrenner's potential changes easier by saying he'd ''had enough'' of Steinbrenner yesterday. Stottlemyre said there were times when he felt ''personally abused,'' so he could follow Zimmer, leaving a void for Torre because they were his two most trusted coaches. Neil Allen may replace Stottlemyre and Joe Girardi, one of Torre's favorite players, would be an intriguing candidate to be the bench coach.

The first-base coach, Lee Mazzilli, may want to ace his managerial interview with Baltimore because the Yankees are expected to add Luis Sojo to their staff, making Mazzilli expendable. The batting coach, Rick Down, is almost certain to be dismissed after the Yankees hit .169 with men on base against the Marlins. Zimmer, defending Down, said, ''Did he make any outs?''

The 2004 Yankees will have a different look, perhaps a radically different look. The new Yankees will not be identified as a team that once won four titles in five years. They will be branded as a team trying to stop a streak without a title from reaching four years. Steinbrenner's rage will multiply if the Yankees fail to win a championship next season. You can count on it.

Photos: For Josh Beckett and the Marlins, a title; for the Yankees, an upheaval. (Photo by Associated Press)